Solenoid actuated control valve



Dec. 31, 1963 ANDRESEN JR 3,116,047

' SOLENOID ACTUATED CONTROL VALVE Filed March 16. 1960 nu m INVEN TOR. 7066? /r 191702555 4? United States Patent 3,116,047 SQLENUID ACTUATED CUNTROL VALVE John H. Andresen, In, Greenwood Lake, N.Y., assignor to .iohn F. Baier, Greenwood Lake, NX. Filed Mar. 16, 1%tl, Ser. No. 15,325 4 Claims. (Cl. 25]l123) The present invention relates to a fluid control valve, and particularly to a fluid control valve of the type which may be utilized in connection with heating and cooling systems although it is to be understood that it is not specifically limited thereto.

It is among the objects of the present invention to provide a reliable automatically actuated fluid control valve which may be conveniently positioned on fluid or liquid distribution systems, and particularly on a hot water heating system and which will enable control of the flow of liquid or fluid in accordance with the requirements of the system.

Another object is to provide a control valve which may be particularly utilized in hot water heating systems to admit or block the flow of circulated hot water from a radiator with assurance of reliable operation over long periods of time.

Another object is to provide novel control valves particularly where a low differential pressure is applied across the valve, in which there is only a single moving part with the valve being automatically closed after opening and in which the valve can be exceedingly small for high capacity.

Still further objects and advantages will appear in the more detailed description set forth below, it being understood, however, that this more detailed description is given by way of illustration and explanation only and not by way of limitation, since various changes therein may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.

In accomplishing the above objects, it has been found most suitable to provide a solenoid operated valve in which there will be a top compartment for the solenoid with a through central cup or opening receiving the tubular or preferably solid cylindrical magnetic armature or plunger element of iron or steel, desirably treated or alloyed so as to be non-rusting.

The armature or plunger should be of sufficient weight, and move sufficiently that it will close of its own weight, and it is positioned so that gravity will constantly tend to move the heavy armature downwardly into the path of the fluid thus effecting a closure.

The inlet and outlet passages are desirably positioned so as to extend horizontally in alignment with one another below the armature in its upper position and directly below the solenoid housing.

It is an important feature of the present invention that the valve chamber consist of a cylinder into which the lower end of the cylindrical armature or plunger will closely fit with there being approximately opposite openings from the inlet and outlet connections.

The inlet opening may be smaller than the outlet opening, or desirably, may be of different conformation than the outlet opening.

There may be a lesser area for flow at the inlet side than at the outlet side.

Desirably, the inlet opening should be so shaped that it will be closed by downward gravity, movement of the armature before the outlet opening is fully closed, although the difference may vary considerably, it has been found with an inlet opening, for example, of three-quarters of an inch in diameter, the outlet should preferably have an opening of seven-eighths of an inch.

Alternatively, the inlet opening may be higher than Zillhfid'? Patented Dec. 31, 1963 the outlet opening and of the same size and shape, so that it will be closed first.

Normally, the armature or plunger is cylindrical and can rotate, but if desired, it may be beveled or notched on the down stream side to cause inlet to close before the outlet, alignment means, such as a keyway and pin, being provided to cause such beveled or notched portions to be turned away from the inlet opening at all times.

Although a helper spring may be utilized to close the armature position in back of the armature, it has usually been found suflicient to permit gravity alone to act to close the armature or plunger across the inlet and outlet ports when the solenoid is de-energized.

There is also desirably provided a manually activated adjustable stop which may enable raising of the plunger if stuck, and also to enable adjustment of the final lowermost valve closing position of the armature.

The arrangement of the inlet opening so that it is smaller or desirably higher or both than the outlet of the armature valve chamber prevents the plunger from hanging open when the solenoid is de-energized.

The valve is particularly intended for low differential pressure application in hot water heating systems.

For example, with a hot water heating system having central hot water boiler and a pump distributing hot water to a radiator system for the bedrooms, to a radiator system for a living room and/ or to a radiator system for the basement, there may be provided a valve on each of these subsystems which can be solenoid controlled from a thermostat.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention consists of the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts as hereinafter more specifically described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein is shown an embodiment of the invention, but it is to be understood that changes, variations and modifications can be resorted to which fall within the scope of the claims hereunto appended.

In the drawings wherein like reference characters denote corresponding parts throughout the several views:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of one form of valves according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a transverse vertical sectional view upon the line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a transverse sectional view upon the line 3-3 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a diagrammatic layout view showing the application of the valves.

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3, there is shown a valve unit A having a solenoid chamber B with a reciprocating cylinder armature C, a valve chamber D with an inlet E and an outlet F, and an inlet connection G and an outlet connection H and a manually adjustable screw member I having a knurled hand member K.

The electrical connections from the thermostat and electrical power source I. control the armature operation.

Referring to FIG. 2, the solenoid housing B is formed of an upper cup 10 having a top opening in the form of a nipple 11 and a lower depending telescoping flange 12.

The lower cup 13 of the housing B has a lower nipple 14 and an upper portion 15 which telescopes inside of the depending flange 12.

The nipples 11 and 12 are aligned with each other and receive an inverted elongated cup 16 in which is received the vertical reciprocating armature or plunger C.

The lower end 17 of the inverted cup 16 fits into and is soldered into the recess 18 in the upper projecting nipple 19 of the valve body 20.

The lower part of the element C, as indicated at 21,

closely fits the cylindrical side walls 22 of the valve compartment D.

The inlet and outlet pipes G respectively are mounted in the shoulder 23 and 24 of the valve body Ztl, and the connection passages E and F lead to and into the valve chamber D.

A particular feature of the present invention resides in the fact that the passageway E is convergent and leads to a relatively smaller, or circular opening 25, under the face 21 of the armature C when the armature is in the uppermost position.

The outlet opening 26, on the other hand, is cut in deeply to the valve chamber D and has an area of opening 10% or more greater than the area of the 'opening 25 with such opening being centered on the axis passageway G-H as contrasted to the opening 25.

As an alternative, the inlet and outlet openings can be of the same diameter with the inlet higher by about 5 to 15% of the diameter.

The valve chamber has a depending nipple 549 which is closed by means of a gasket 51, and the shoulder "52 of the plug member 53.

The plug member 53 has a knurled face 54 to enable it to be screwed tightly clamping the gasket 51 against the lower end of the nipple 5h.

The plug 52 also has a cylindrical upwardly extending nipple 55 receiving a threaded passageway 56 which receives the threaded rod 57 of the adjustment J.

The threaded rod 57 at its upper side carries the domed contact element I, which can either be used to elevate the armature I or to change its bottom position.

The knurled hand piece K is pinned to the lower end of the threaded rod 57 by the pin 53.

The encircling chamber 59 is intended to tnap any dirt or grime away from the armature C and from the valve chamber D when the armature C is acting as a valve.

The gaskets 6t and st fit in recesses in the plug 53 and will seal the screw 57 against how of liquid through the thread thereof when the screw is in full up or full down position.

in the diagrammatic FIG. 4, there is shown a boiler 75 with a pump 7 d and connections at 77, 78 and '79 leading respectively to radiator systems for bedrooms, living room and basement, and return lines 31, $2 and 33 returning water from these rooms to the boiler.

Each one of these systems has a control valve A at the inlet connection thereof.

This control valve A will be controlled by a thermostat to energize or dc-energize the solenoid through the electrical connections 12.

Instead of the arrangement shown in FIG. 4, the various valves. may be placed on the inlets to the radiator systems leading to each apartment of a group of apartments, and a thermostat in each apartment will control the respective valve.

The provision for a smaller inlet than the outlet as indicated by contrast of the opening 25 with the opening 2% will assure that there will be effective closure of the valve.

Usually, one of the valves, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, is used for each system of radiators where these radiators are to be controlled independently of the main system to open or close the fiow of hot water.

As stated before, one valve may be used for one flow or for each apartment or for each group of rooms which have similar living conditions, and in which similar temperature will be maintained.

The arrangement as shown saves the use of a considerable number of pumps.

Any dirt that collects will do so in the chamber 59, and it may be readily removed by unscrewing the plug 53.

The present valve is particularly designed to be used with a low differential pressure, such as occupies hot water heating systems.

It is much superior to a butterfly valve having a rotating seal which requires a driving motor.

lit is also greatly superior to a solenoid poppet valve having an axially moving shaft seal.

It is furthermore more satisfactory in operation than a bellows operating a poppet valve through another smaller bellows acting as a seal.

it is furthermore more satisfactory than a solenoid having an armature in the working fluid which operates a poppet valve.

In the present invention, the solenoid armature which is cylindrical is the sole moving part, and the valve will automatically close by gravity when the solenoid is deenergized.

The plunger should have a close fit of the order of several thousandths in respect to the side cylindrical walls of the valve chamber D.

Since the valve will not in any way block the passageway across the chamber D when fully opened, there will be a minimum pressure drop.

The opening device K in its lowest position defines the lowest position of the armature and is also useful in elevating the armature C in case of any stoppage or clogging or in case of electric power failure.

The solenoid may be operated on direct current, rectified alternating current or alternating current, and there will be no noise upon opening or closing due to the damping effect of the fluid flowing through the small clearance around the armature.

Furthermore, there will be no electrical contacts on the valves of :FIGS. 1 to 3, which will become inoperative, rusted or cause radio interference.

It will be noted that the inlet opening 25 is smaller than the outlet opening so that there will be a closure first before the outlet opening 26 is completely closed.

The essential feature of the present invention resides in the fact that the plunger closes the inlet side of the through passage before it closes the outlet side.

This will permit closure by gravity due to the weight of the plunger, although a similar effect could be obtained by a weak spring if the plunger reciprocated horizontally.

The plunger acts to shear off the flow of water without undue abruptnessgiving a. smooth cut-off.

The inlet and outlet passageways may be arranged to achieve the desired result by positioning the bottom of the inlet passageway higher than the bottom of the outlet passageway and/ or by notching the bottom of the inlet passageway when they are aligned and of the same size and/or by making the outlet passageway of larger diameter than the inlet passageway if both passageways are in axial, alignment.

"In case of electrical power failure, or failure of valve to operate electrically, the manual opener will be effective.

As many changes could be made in the above fluid control valve, and many Widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope of the claims, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, what is claimed is:

l. A hot water control valve for use in a home hot Water heating system to give Zone control and enable selected heating of various rooms or portions of a dwelling area, said valve being of the type having a lower valve housing with a central boss with a vertical circular passageway and aligned lateral tubular elements with bored stepped inlet and outlet passageways therethrcugh extending into the vertical central circular passageway, a vertically downand-up reciprocable solid cylinder serving as a valve member to reciprocate into and out of the vertical central circular passageway and cut off communication between the inlet and outlet passageways, a solenoid to lift said cylinder upon up movement and to drop said cylinder upon down movement which results in gravity downward movement of the cylinder, said inlet and outlet passageways opening into said circular passageway so that the valve member in down reciprocation will out oi? the inlet passageway before it cuts Off the outlet passageway, said opening of said inlet passageway into said central passageway taking the [form of an upwardly inclined frusto conical shape and said opening :of said outlet passageway taking the form of a cylindrical shape horizontally directed below the inlet opening.

2. The valve of claim 1, said outlet passageway opening into the circular passageway being larger than and eccentric with the inlet opening.

3. A hot water control for a hot water heating system comprising a horizontal tubular through passage unit having a through horizontal passageway with cylindrical inlet and outlet ports on a common horizontal axis, a vertical central cylindrical passageway having a vertical axis intersecting said horizontal axis, said horizontal passageways having inlet and outlet openings with said central passageway, a cylindrical solenoid plunger reciprocating in said central cylindrical passageway, said plunger being elevated by the solenoid and dropped by gravity when released by the solenoid and tending to flutter at its lowermost position and said inlet opening being higher than and smaller than the outlet opening.

"4. A hot Water control valve for a hot water heating system having a central vertically elongated cylindrical valve chamber, transverse opposite inlet and outlet circular passageways having aligned axes intersecting the vertical axes of said valve chamber, a closely fitting solid cylindrical magnetic armature floating upwardly and downwardly in said chamber across said passageways, a solenoid to lift said armature to open the valve and to drop the armature so that the armature will drop by gravity and means to prevent flutter of said armature in its lower position consisting of connecting inlet and outlet bores opening into said valve chamber and connecting said passageways to said valve chamber with the inlet bore having an axis located above the axis of the outlet bore and the lower edge of said inlet bore where it opens into the valve chamber being higher than the lower edge of the outlet bore where it opens into the valve chamber.

References Oitesl in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 601,258 Johnson Mar. 29, 1898 1,850,850 Peterson Mar. 22, 1932 2,267,347 Betz Dec. 23, 1941 2,299,654 Ray Oct. 20, 1942 2,356,134 Voit Aug. 22, 1944 2,536,435 Pox Jan. 2, 1951 2,627,544 Eek Feb. 3, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 214,451 Great Britain Apr. 24, 1924 466,079 France Feb. 20, 1914 542,131 France Mar. 12, 1922 741,630 France Dec. 13, 1932 852,797 Germany Oct. 20, 1952 

1. A HOT WATER CONTROL VALVE FOR USE IN A HOME HOT WATER HEATING SYSTEM TO GIVE ZONE CONTROL AND ENABLE SELECTED HEATING OF VARIOUS ROOMS OR PORTIONS OF A DWELLING AREA, SAID VALVE BEING OF THE TYPE HAVING A LOWER VALVE HOUSING WITH A CENTRAL BOSS WITH A VERTICAL CIRCULAR PASSAGEWAY AND ALIGNED LATERAL TUBULAR ELEMENTS WITH BORED STEPPED INLET AND OUTLET PASSAGEWAYS THERETHROUGH EXTENDING INTO THE VERTICAL CENTRAL CIRCULAR PASSAGEWAY, A VERTICALLY DOWN-AND-UP RECIPROCABLE SOLID CYLINDER SERVING AS A VALVE MEMBER TO RECIPROCATE INTO AND OUT OF THE VERTICAL CENTRAL CIRCULAR PASSAGEWAY AND CUT OFF COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE INLET AND OUTLET PASSAGEWAYS, A SOLENOID TO LIFT SAID CYLINDER UPON UP MOVEMENT AND TO DROP SAID CYLINDER UPON DOWN MOVEMENT WHICH 